Randl Arthur Roth, 49, of Murfreesboro, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud in May. Court documents show that Roth devised a scheme to defraud customers; the banks that financed customers' car purchases; and individuals and companies that financed the dealership's inventory in 2014, U.S. Attorney Donald Cochran said in a news release.

Roth and co-conspirators led customers and banks to believe that the dealership had clean titles to the cars they sold, however, Roth knew of existing liens on the cars, investigators said. Some of the cars included in the dealership's inventory had already been sold in order to secure loans from private investors.

Investigators also said Roth submitted duplicate, fraudulent car title applications to the Rutherford County Clerk's Office and provided a copy of the applications or duplicate titles to inventory financiers.

Once Roth is released, he will be subject to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay $595,569.72 in restitution.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Murfreesboro Police Department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis prosecuted the case.